Crawford's saves not nearly enough

DETROIT -- In the year of the kids for the Blackhawks, 23-year-old rookie goaltender Corey Crawford is fitting right in.

In his third career start, Crawford was even better here Tuesday night against the Detroit Red Wings than in his shutout of Anaheim last week.

But Crawford got little offensive help and his 44 saves were wasted in a 3-1 loss that put the Hawks' playoff chances on life support.

Crawford allowed only 2 goals, the Red Wings getting the third into an empty net in the final minute.

"He was just spectacular. He gave us a chance to win," said Hawks coach Denis Savard, who had planned to start Patrick Lalime until the veteran's shaky outing in Sunday's 6-5 loss to Edmonton.

Savard might even come right back with Crawford tonight against Carolina at the United Center in a game the Hawks must win with only 12 left on the schedule and them 7 points out of the last playoff spot.

"We have to dig in now," Savard said. "We have to get a big run, no question. We probably need to win nine. We have three more games this week and we probably need to win all three, or at least two of three."

As well as Crawford played, it was a mistake by another rookie in front of him that proved costly.

With the score tied at 1-1 late in the second period, defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson attempted a pass through the middle of the ice from the left of the net instead of making the safe play to the boards.

The puck was tipped by Jiri Hudler to Pavel Datsyuk alone in the slot for the wrist shot past Crawford.

"Just one centimeter there and you've got a mistake," said the 20-year-old Hjalmarsson. "I felt I let the team down a little bit there. Corey played so well for us. I blame myself a lot today, but life goes on and I have to try to play better next game."

Savard wasn't about to throw his kid defenseman under the bus, putting part of the blame on center Robert Lang for not being in the proper position for the pass.

"Our center is supposed to be lower there on breakouts to make sure that the boards would be open," Savard said. "Yeah, it's easy to say (Hjalmarsson) could have gone down the wall, but if our center comes low that play might not have happened."

Lang also was stopped easily by Red Wings goalie Chris Osgood on a penalty shot at the 10-minute mark of the second period with the scored tied at 1-1.

Savard needed to use Hjalmarsson more after James Wisniewski received a match penalty in the first period for high-sticking and was ejected.

"It's tough to play that team with five defensemen," Savard said.

The Hawks were outshot 47-20.

"We just didn't have that energy," Savard said. "We've played a lot of hockey here and we had a tough time handling their speed tonight. We just didn't fire."

Rene Bourque scored the Hawks' goal in the first period. "We needed to win that game," he said. "It's going to make it that much harder for us to get in now."